From classic cruisers to modern-day marvels: 500 cars line streets of downtown Bay City for 15th annual Cool City Car Show

BAY CITY, MI — The streets of downtown Bay City glittered Saturday morning with the gleam of highly-polished chrome and bright paint on hundreds of classic cars. Pedestrians strolled down Washington Avenue admiring the cars while listening to car-themed oldies songs broadcast over speakers scattered throughout the show.

Some car owners lounged in chairs in the shade while others gave their cars a last-minute polish in hopes of winning one of the show's 94 awards for "Best in Show" or "Best Finish."

Mike Thelen, organizer of the Cool City Car Show and General Manager of Thelen Auto Group said about 500 cars registered for the show, which benefits the American Cancer Society.

While standard car show stars like Chevrolet Corvettes and Ford Mustangs were plentiful, some of the cars attracted more attention than others.

Brian Myers of Caro wanted to buy a vehicle to take to car shows that would turn some heads. He settled on a black and white 1978 Cadillac hearse.

“They’re hand-built and each one is unique,” Myers said.

Each hearse is built to the funeral home’s specifications, including the type of flooring, interior panels and color combinations.

“The newer ones are a little more cookie-cutter,” he said.

Myers said this hearse was sent to Memphis just after it was built to be considered for the funeral procession of rock n' roll icon Elvis Presley.

"It ended up being rejected because it has a black roof," he said. "The family was looking for an all-white hearse."

This is not the first hearse Myers has dealt with.

“I grew up in a funeral home in Indiana,” Myers said, sitting in a lawn chair behind the car.

He worked for his family’s funeral business until he graduated from high school, but decided he wanted to find a different job.

Myers has decorated his hearse with a sign for “Myers and Myers Funeral Home” in the window and a zombie crawling towards the open back door. Around the hearse he had placed a tombstone and flowers. Scooby-Doo said in the driver’s seat, ready to drive his passenger to his final destination.

“A lot of people have never seen the inside of a hearse,” he said. “Kids love it, but adults have kind of mixed reactions.”

Myers also owns a 1978 Ford Thunderbird and a 1977 Ford LTE, but he said the hearse gets the most questions and is more fun to bring to car shows.

He sometimes rents the hearse out for events like over-the-hill parties and said he has even rented it out for a wedding.

“The couple wanted to ride to the reception in the back,” he said.

Another car drawing attention from spectators was a 1961 Dodge Dart Pioneer police cruiser, parked in the middle of Center Avenue with a crook in a striped prison uniform sitting in the back seat. Owners Eugene Weide and Kathy Walther of Sterling, Michigan said they attend 15 to 20 car shows throughout the state each year with their classic cars, which Weide restores himself.

They also brought a 1952 Ford Wrecker, which they nicknamed “The Happy Hooker.”

Walther, dressed in a pink and black poodle skirt and black and white saddle shoes, said they have outfits to coordinate with all their cars. Walther’s outfit matched the wrecker. They have made 1900s driving coats to wear with their 1901 Oldsmobile and costumes from the movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” to match their replica of the famous movie car.

“I brought Chitty [to the Cool City Car Show] last year,” Weide said.

In front of the police cruiser, Weide set up a glass case with police memorabilia from the 1950s and 1960s given to him by friends who were state and local police officers. These included a knife and a set of brass knuckles with the police evidence tags still attached.

“A lot of it came from cold or dead cases and were about to be thrown out,” Weide said.

At another car show, Weide said a pair of police officers in a 1930s police cruiser collided with his.

“Theirs was totaled and they had just put a $10,000 paint job on it,” he said. The crash caused about $2,000 in damage to Weide’s car.

Weide and Walther said they enjoy coming to the Cool City Car Show because of its location.

“A lot of other shows don’t have much for entertainment,” Weide said. “We like walking around and looking at the antique shops for more things for the cars.”